Paper Bag Album

Have ya' wondered where I've been :) ? I've never, ever made a paper bag album yet, and I've wanted to make one for a really long time. I looked online for some instructions and, WOW! Paper bag albums have come a long way baby!!! I found some awesome videos on Youtube by The Paper Trail for mini albums. I loved one of them so much, I set about to make one of my own :). That's where I've been... making paper bag albums! I had so much fun! I used the Everyday Enchantment DSP from the Sale-a-bration brochure. What PRETTY paper! This post has 19 photos so be prepared to be here for a few minutes :)...

The top of the book

The entire front cover (made with duck cloth that I painted with gloss acrylic paint)

Close up of the rose (Very Vanilla, inked with Peach Parfait)

Close up of the butterflies- added Dazzling Details

First two pages- the left side has a pocket

Pages 3 and 4- I used the Two Tags die and the Scalloped Envelope die

The other side of the center flap on pages 3 and 4

Pages 5 and 6- I used the Top Note and Beautiful Wings embosslit

Pages 7 and 8- used the Scribble Swirls Sizzlit and the new Hearts embosslit

Pages 8 and 9- not done yet

The last page and the back cover

Each page is two bags and makes two pockets side by side

I alternated punches to make the tabs on the pull outs that fit inside the pockets

Here you can see the two pull outs in the two pockets

Side view of the double pockets

The duck cloth cover from the side

The duck cloth back cover- the cover is all one piece and adhered to mat board covers

The pockets from the side

The side view pockets and flaps. There is a flap between each page.

I used coordinating card stock and inks to the Everyday Enchantment DSP- Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, and Peach Parfait. I used lots of stuff, including several punches and several dies, so if you have a particular question about any of them, please fire me an email :). Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Blessings!

Barb

Build a Bear Leprechaun

If you've been following my blog for a while, then you know that the Build a Bear dies are very versatile- they are NOT just for bears! You can use these dies to make people and other critters, like bunny rabbits :). If you liked playing with paper dolls when you were little, you will LOVE playing with the Build a Bear dies :D. I would like you to meet Shamus... 

Several punches were used to create Shamus' little scene. The Scallop Trim Corner and Scallop Trim Border punches made my square. I cut my Whisper White card stock 5.25". After punching the outside edges of my first square, I cut another Whisper White square at 4.25" and then ran it through my Big Shot in the Square Lattice embossing folder, centering it in the Scalloped Trim square. Shamus' beard is made with the largest petal from the Blossom Petals Builder punch. His head is the 1 3/8" circle punch. His little pot of gold is done with the Extra Large Tag punch and the Word Window punch. The legs of his pot were made with the Word Window punch. The pieces of gold are actually the Small Heart punch, layered. His hat is made with 1 3/8" circle punch, the Small Heart punch, and the Word Window punch.

The inside of the card has a 4.75" Whisper White square, also punched with the Scallop Trim punches, matted on Lucky Limeade card stock cut at 5.75" square. This card is going in the mail today heading to my daughter in Texas :). Have a wonderful day today! I hope that the weather where you live is as beautiful as our weather! Spring is here!

Blessings!
Barb

Certainly Celery, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Cajun Craze, Basic Black, Soft Suede Textured, Old Olive, Blush Blossom (retired) card stock
Garden Green, Blush Blossom (retired) Classic Stampin' Ink
Cajun Craze Stampin' Write Marker
Punches- named in my post above, plus 1/4" circle and 1/8" circle punches
Build a Bear dies- Bear and Beary Essentials

Miss You...

Last night we went to our grandson's 10th birthday party- wow, where did that time go to?! Although it was a happy occasion, my daughter Sarah was missing from the party :(. She moved to Texas two years ago when her husband came home from Iraq and they decided to stay. So, they don't get home often and family celebrations and holidays just aren't the same without them there. I made this card this morning to send to her to let her know how much I miss her. I used a SCS color challenge on my card- Pool Party, Poppy Parade, and Daffodil Delight with a touch of ribbon.

I inked up my embossing folder with Pool Party ink before inserting my card stock into the folder and ran it through my Big Shot. As you can see, this transfers the ink only on the parts of the folder that are not raised. This is not a new technique and has been around for a few years. There are some Christmas cards on my blog that used this technique. Depending on the embossing folder design, you can get some very pretty looks with this technique.

I kept the inside very simple, but adding a Pool Party mat and a few punched corners adds a little bit more interest to the inside of the card. 

On another note, when I woke up this morning, (very groggy to say the least, lol!) my husband said, "you have to get your camera and take pictures!" I looked out the window to see what had him so excited about my camera and I immediately got my camera and went outside in my pajamas. There is nothing like early morning on a farm, nothing. Everything is bathed in golden early morning sunlight as the sun starts its ascent in the sky. This morning though, we were treated to not only the golden sunlight, but the morning mist as well. Here are a couple of my favorite photos from my morning venture. I came into the house with cold wet feet from the dew, but it was worth it :).

The Horse Barn

Golden Sun Rays

The Garden Gate

As I type, the windows are open, the sweet, fresh air is flowing through the house, the sun is shining, the sky is a perfect blue, and I can hear the hens out in the yard squawking at each other. It doesn't get any better... :)

PS- when I was taking pictures of my card this morning, I kept seeing an orange paw pop up in the corner of my lens. Our cat, Dooberoo, decided he needed to help, lol! You can see the card in the upper left corner. Ya' gotta love kitties!

Blessings!

Barb

Whisper White card stock

Daffodil Delight, Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Ink

Up, Up & Away stamp set

Framed Tulips embossing folder

1" and 1 1/4" circle punches

Daffodil Delight 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

Pretty Flowers

I have long been fascinated by the art of making paper flowers. I have several flower punches, but my longing for Spring color really piqued my interest in creating some flowers :). I recently tried my hand at creating a purple pansy. LOVE purple pansies!!! I think it's the combination of yellow and purple that draws me to purple pansies. Yellow is one of my favorite colors and I love it paired it with blue or purple. Add a little white and it's a really fresh color combo :).

 My pansy was created with Whisper White card stock, spritzed with distilled water, and painted with a bit of re-inker and a brush. The petals were dried with my heat tool and then I sponged the edges with Elegant Eggplant. The leaves of the pansy are Old Olive, inked on the edges with Garden Green. The Designer Series Paper is from the retired Georgia Peach, but any soft yellow will work if re-creating this.

Thanks for stopping by today! Wishing you a wonderful and happy weekend!! 

Blessings!

Barb

Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder, Old Olive card stock

Lavendar Lace, Barely Banana re-inkers (retired), Elegant Eggplant, Garden Green Classic Stampin' Ink

Thank You Kindly stamp set

Scribbles Swirls die

Tulip embossing folder

Thank You Card

I made a thank you card yesterday for my daughter's main coach, Mark. Mark is the coach who spends the most time with her. He gives her three lessons a week, plus works with her during regular practice hours. He is not only a great coach, but he has become a great friend as well. Mark was not able to go to the Maryland Meet, so this was the first Meet our daughter has ever had to compete in without him. She had two of her four coaches there, but Mark is the coach that she is closest to. It was pretty scary for her to go to a Meet without Mark! Mark gave her a great encouraging talk before we left, but he really went above and beyond the call of duty once we got to the Meet. He got up earlier than east coast time (we live in a different time zone) to call her on her cell phone at 5:30 a.m. ET to encourage her and give her some last minute coaching advice. They  talked for about ten minutes. Remember that she was really sick? She told Mark that she was feeling bad that first phone call. As mentioned in my post yesterday, she did her first event beautifully and won first place. She called Mark to let  him know that she got first and he said, "See, you did it"! I posted yesterday that she got sicker as the morning wore on and she had to scratch the rest of her events for this Meet. But Mark called us three times on Meet Day One to check on her to see how she was feeling. We didn't know how she would feel on Meet Day Two- if she would be able to compete or not. So Mark called again at 5:30 a.m. ET on Meet Day Two to check up on her and to encourage her if she was competing. He called to check on her again later that day because I told him she was too sick to compete still. It turns out, that several of our club's skaters had the same thing that our daughter came down with at the Meet while we were gone! We are going to pick up a gift card for Mark today as a little blessing for him because he really blessed us by going beyond normal coaching duties, but in the meantime, here's the card I made for him :)...

 

 I used some Delta Ceramcoat white paint to dobber the clouds onto Bashful Blue card stock. When the clouds were dry I added some Dazzling Details for a little bit of sparkle.

I made three faux brads for the card front in Daffodil Yellow. It's easy to make faux brads! Just punch out as many circles as you need with a 1/4" circle punch, place them on some thick fun foam, and with a soft circular motion, press the end of a stylus into the center and work your way out to the edges until your circle has a slight cup shape. Then add a glue dot to the center and place it where you need it.

I left the inside of the card blank so my daughter could write her own thank you note to Mark :). I stamped the clouds and added another kite to the lower right corner. I like to add a little something to the inside of my cards just to give them that little bit of extra punch. Have a GREAT day!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Stamps: Send Me Soaring, Silhouette Sentiments

Paper: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, retired DSP

Classic Stampin' Ink: Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede, Island Indigo, Bashful Blue, Lucky Limeade, Pumpkin Pie

Other: Delta Ceramcoat white paint, 1/4" circle punch, glue dots, Dazzling Details glitter glue, Lucky Limeade bakers twine, Snowburst embossing folder

Christmas Bird

I was going over some sketches that I keep in my sketch book and found this one. I liked the layout of it and thought it was the perfect sketch for combining different embossing folders. On this card I used the new Snow Burst folder and Northern Flurry. On the upper left corner I embossed just a couple of snowflakes from Northern Flurry and then on the lower right side, I used Snow Burst. 

 I made a little pine cone to tuck under my paper bow, along with some pine greenery. The paper bow is made from a piece of Frostwood Lodge DSP. LOVE that Designer Series Paper!!!! I added some Dazzling Details for the glittery snow on the pine branches and the pine cone.

 My buttons are made with the 3/4" Circle punch and the Boho Blossoms punch. Just punch out a circle and a blossom, layer, and punch the button holes. I use a clear button that I die cut from my Buttons #5 Sizzlet. I lay my button hole template on my circle or flower, center it, mark the holes and punch with a 1/16" circle punch.

 On the inside, I added a couple of patches of 'flannel' paper from Frostwood Lodge. I punched them with the postage stamp punch and added another button that I made with punches.

 The Marina Mist button below looks like the center is layered on top in the photo (just noticed that), but it's not. I punched a 1/2" circle and then centered it in my 3/4" Circle punch and punched. I punched a whole 3/4" circle and inked up the inside edges of the 1/2" circle. Adhered the two circles together and inked around the edges of the button again with Marina Mist. The Cherry Cobbler button is die cut from Buttons #5.

Have a wonderful day today and thanks for visiting me here!!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Marina Mist, Whisper White, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Frostwood Lodge Designer Series Paper

Stamps: 

Classic Stampin' Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White (Craft Ink)

Punches: Scalloped Oval, Builder Bird, 3/4" Circle, 1/2" Circle, Boho Blossoms, Postage Stamp

Dies: Buttons #5

Other: Northern Frost and Snow Burst embossing folders, Stampin' Dimensionals, Dazzling Details glitter glue, white crochet thread, white gel pen

Wedding Card

I'm back to post the wedding card :). I was up all night :(. Just one of those nights when you can't sleep. I'm going to have to come back later and add the stamp set I used. I have it written down on a piece of paper, but the paper is at home (sigh). I used Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Whisper White, and retired Designer Series Paper. The bride is wearing light blue with her white gown, which is why I chose this color combination.

As you can imagine, I'm pretty tired right now, so not really chatty today :). Wishing you all a great weekend! Stay warm!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, retired DSP
Stamps: Occasional Quotes (hostess, retired)
Classic Stampin' Ink: Marina Mist
Punches: Heart
Other: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

Come to Bethlehem

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I've been busy decorating the house for Christmas, thus my absence, but I stopped today to make a Christmas card. I used Come to Bethlehem- love this set! I stamped my background first with En Francais in Crumb Cake, stamped off once. The edges of my image are aged with Soft Suede and a sponge dauber. I ink up my dauber first and then stamp off on a scrap of paper before applying to my image. It gives it a softer look.

 My poinsettia is done with the Five Petal punch, punched twice, petals curled with a chop stick, then layered. The center of my poinsettia is one of the flowers from the Boho Blossoms punch. Sponged the outer edges with Cajun Craze and then lined it up in the Snow Burst embossing folder.

 The inside is double matted and stamped in Cherry Cobbler with two more holly leaves to match the front of my card.

The card base is 5.5". The Marina Mist frame is 4.5 and the inside Night of Navy frame is 4 3/8". I cut the Very Vanilla 4 3/8" square. The inside mats are: Night of Navy- 5.25" square, Marina Mist- 5" square, and Very Vanilla is cut 3.5" square. Have a GREAT day everyone!!!!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Classic Stampin' Ink: Garden Green, Night of Navy, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler
Stamps: Come to Bethlehem, En Francais
Punches: Five Petal, Boho Blossoms, 1/4" circle
Dies: Stocking Accents
Other: Snow Burst embossing folder, glue dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, gem

Christmas List Organizer

I saw this beyond brilliant idea on Artful Imagination's blog! She made a Christmas List Organizer! Every year I have several Christmas lists with me when I do my Christmas shopping, all written out on separate sheets of lined paper. You can imagine how much fun it is trying to switch between all those sheets of paper while shopping. With this little organizer you have all your Christmas lists handy in one conveniently sized little organizer, and it's pretty too! Many thanks to Artful Imagination for coming up with this fantastic organizer and sharing it! You have made my Christmas shopping so much easier!!!!

Back to the organizer :). She made inserts for the inside of her organizer, so I made my own inserts as well, using Word. I also made my organizer slightly different, in that I put a piece of Designer Series Paper at the top of mine to hide the top of my list sheets. I think that I'll make another one for next year and laminate my covers, so that all I have to do is print out new lists each year to add to the organizer. (Sigh) Hindsight is often better than foresight.

Have you started your Thanksgiving preparations yet? I'm off to start on mine now! I do a lot of baking for the holidays and it's so much easier to make up the pie crusts and freeze them a couple of days before I need them :). Have a great day today!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Paper: Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Whisper White, Designer Series Paper (retired)

Classic Stampin' Ink: Garden Green, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Real Red

Stamps: Dear Santa, Sweets for the Sweet

Punches: 1" Circle, Decorative Label

Dies: Tasteful Trim, Stocking Accents, Northern Frost

Other: 1" Prong Fasterner

My Daughter's Card

My daughter stamped a card for me recently :). She doesn't stamp often, but I thought her ideas for this card were cute. She used the Build a Bear dies to make a gingerbread girl. Ahhh, a child after my own heart ;-). Yeah, she totally owns it, lol!

 She used a Sizzix embossing folder and embossed the background and colored it in with Stampin' Write markers. A white gel pen added the frosting to the ginger girl.

On the inside of the card, she used the zig zag from the Tasteful Trim die and added stamped candies at the corners carrying the gingerbread theme to the inside. She stamped her sentiment and punched it out, then popped it up on Dimensionals.

Her card definitely expresses a warm and cozy Christmas. I can almost smell the gingerbread baking :-). Have a great weekend!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies used:
Paper: Garden Green, Real Red, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip

Classic Stampin' Ink: Garden Green, Real Red

Stamps: Sweets for the Sweet, sentiment from a retired set

Dies: Build a Bear- Bear, Beary Dressy, Tasteful Trim

Punches: 1" Circle, Decorative Label

Birthday Card

Here's a quick birthday card I made using four different stamp sets. I often like to combine more than one stamp set to achieve my final result :). It's amazing how many stamp sets compliment each other! This card is another 5x7 card. I seem to need the bigger size a lot more lately! I used the Petite Pennants punch for the smaller pennants and the Perfect Pennants Bigz die for the larger pennant. The punch and the die go nicely together, don't ya' think? To make the embellishment in the center of my larger pennant, I stamped the candy from Sweets for the Sweet and punched out the center using a 1/2" circle punch. Then I punched the outer part of the stamped candy with a 1" circle punch. I stamped my little 'wish big' sentiment onto Whisper White and punched it out with the 1" circle punch and layered them. I popped it up on a Dimensional as well.

The little sentiment banner on my card was made with the banner on the Petal Cone die. I simply die cut the banner and then trimmed it closer to the length I wanted my banner to be and laid it on top of the banner on the die and ran it through my Big Shot again. Easy Peasy! 

For the inside, I stamped more candies in matching colors to the card front and layered two of the candies in the corner. Tomorrow I'm going to share a card that my daughter made for me. She doesn't stamp often, but when she does, she comes up with cute ideas :). See you then! Have a GREAT weekend!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Old Olive, So Saffron, Whisper White, Melon Mambo,  Marina Mist, Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizzazz DSP
Stamps: Sweets for the Sweet, Pennant Parade, Create a Cupcake, So Happy for You (retired)
Classic Stampin' Ink: Melon Mambo, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Punches: 1/2" Circle, 1" Circle, Petite Pennants
Dies: Petal Cone, Perfect Pennants
Other: Snow Burst Textured Impressions embossing folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, white crochet thread

Christmas Collage

I've had this background stamp since it was introduced and have never inked it up until this weekend. I stamped the image with VersaMark and heat embossed in gold. I used my Watercolor Wonder Crayons to color in parts of the image. In case you want to use this image whole, the dimensions of the image are 4.5 x 5.75. My card is a 5x7 card.

After I had all the layers adhered down and finished my card, I decided that I should have inked the edges in Soft Suede for a more vintage look. Oh well, maybe I'll make another one :). Have a great day!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Always Artichoke, Basic Black, gold glitter paper, gold metallic card stock
Classic Stampin' Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Stamps" Christmas Collage, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Dies: Stocking Accents, Timeless Type
Punches: Word Window, 1.75 Circle, Scallop Edge Border
Embossing Folder: Square Lattice
Other: VersaMark, gold embossing powder, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender pens, Stampin' Dimensionals

Gently Falling Leaves

Sorry I'm late on my post today, had to take my daughter to the Dr. this morning. I don't have much time for chat today since I need to take her this afternoon for a test.

I used two stamps sets on the card below... Gently Falling and Falling Leaves. The leaves from Gently Falling (background leaves) were stamped in Old Olive and Cajun Craze. The leaves on the three circles are from Falling Leaves and I stamped them in Cajun Craze.

 This inside is simple... Very Vanilla matted on Crumb Cake and stamped in Old Olive with one of the leaves from the Gently Falling stamp set. Quick and easy :).

Have a great day today everyone! See you all tomorrow! Please see the supply list below :).

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze
Classic Stampin' Ink: Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Stamps: Gently Falling, Falling Leaves, Thank You Kindly
Punches: 1" Circle, 1 1/4" Circle
Other: Square Lattice Textured Impressions embossing folder